SHREDDER
September 1, 1995
3 Days, 23 Hours
LEONARDO:
I lay on my back and stared up at the ceiling. It danced with a pale orange glow, reflecting the flame from the candle on the bedside table. My mind was reeling. I couldn't slow it down. There was so much to think about, and it was all so sudden.
There was a knock on the door. I glanced over at it. I recognized it from the force, and debated for a moment on whether to answer or pretend like I was asleep. I sighed. "Come in."
The handle turned. He stepped inside. "Busy?" he asked. His voice was serious. I reconsidered my decision to let him into the room, sincerely hoping he didn't want to fight.
"Thinking," I answered.
He closed the door. I looked away. For a few seconds, it was silent. "Leo, we gotta do something."
"Like what?" I asked quietly. "She'll be safe with..."
"It's not about Clarisse," he interrupted, anger clouding his voice. "It's about thirty-eight murdered children, Leo. Children. Infants, toddlers... children."
I turned my head toward him. Fury danced in his eyes. "What do you want me to do, Raph?" I sighed. "It's not like we even know where to..."
"We'll find him."
"And then what?" I challenged. He glared at me. "Raph, you can't bring those kids back, and you know it."
A sharp intake of breath let me know that I'd hit that target a lot harder than I'd meant to. I sighed and looked away again. "Raph, I'm not not about to try and force a confrontation with Shredder when all four of us are hurt."
"So you're gonna let him get away with it?" he accused.
I turned and glared at him. "Did I say that?"
"We can use Clarisse to find him," he snapped. "If what she's saying is true, he'll be back for her. But once she leaves we won't be able to..."
"I'm not putting her in danger like that," I interrupted. "And I'm not putting you in danger like that, either."
He clenched his fists. "You do not need to protect me, Leo."
"Prove it, Raph," I answered. "Because from the looks of it, you're going to go out there and find him yourself. And he will kill you, and you know it."
His eyes closed and I knew I had pinned him. Somehow, after all these years, it wasn't hard. His eyes opened again and I saw fire. "Leonardo," he started, his voice measured and quiet, "I refuse to stand back and watch the cops fumble around with an investigation until they finally close it unsolved." I looked away. "Do you hear me, Leo?" he snarled. "I refuse to let him get away with this."
"What are you gonna do, Raph?" I sighed, tired. "You gonna face Shredder single-handed? And hurt?"
"I was hoping I wouldn't have to," he answered dryly.
I stared at him for a long time, saying nothing. Finally, I shook my head. "I can't stop you, Raphael," I relented. "But I know my limits. And I know that I'm in no condition to take him on right now."
"If not now, when?"
"You want a date and time?" I challenged. He stared at me, his gaze unfaltering. "I don't know. Someday we'll have to find..."
"Someday," he repeated, cutting me off. "How many more people does he have to kill before Someday comes around?" I sighed and looked away. "Listen, Leo, we were created to fight him. And maybe it's our only purpose in life, but we're the only ones in the world who can take him down, and you know it." I said nothing. "I'm tired of running from this son of a bitch. I'm tired playing tag with someone who doesn't care who he has to hurt to get to us. I'm tired of killing teenage runaways that get sucked into his foot clan." His voice was escalating. He was getting angry. "I'm tired of living every day wondering when he's gonna strike next, I'm tired of visiting graves and picking up the pieces of a city he'd love to destroy, I'm fucking tired of it!"
I said nothing. He was quiet for a few minutes. "I'm tired of playing this game, Leo," he finally continued, quietly. "I'm tired of playing ninja. If we're gonna spend our whole lives avoiding the one person we were trained to fight, there's no fucking point to it."
I turned to him and our eyes locked. "Splinter didn't train us with Shredder in mind."
"Bullshit, Leo," he answered calmly, shaking his head.
"He trained us to defend ourselves, knowing what kinds of problems we were gonna face because of what we are."
He stared at me, a dumbfounded look on his face. He shook his head, as if in disbelief. "No, you're wrong, Leo," he whispered. "You're wrong. Ask him."
"I have asked him."
"You asked him when you were five, Leo," he reminded me. "But things change."
"His motive for starting our teaching didn't change."
He stared at me in disbelief. "Leo, do you even realize what we know?" The question startled me for a minute. "Do you even grasp the seriousness of what he taught us? You're so used to it, you don't even think about it anymore. All you think about is getting better, getting perfect, getting through this exercise so you can move on to the next one, the next level. Ever stop to think about what level you're at, Leo?"
I wasn't entirely sure what to say to him. This was deep for Raph. I hadn't realized he thought that hard about our teaching. Hard enough to catch me off guard with what he'd come up with. "You could hire out as an assassin, make thousands of dollars for each hit. And it would be so easy. You ever think about that, Leo?"
I shook my head slightly. "No."
"Do you realize how good you are? How good we all are? Splinter didn't have to teach us all this. It's more than we'll ever need in our day to day life, Leo. He makes us go head to head, why? Why do I need to know how to find weakness in somebody better than I am when I'm already better than any scientist or cop or street thug that could come my way?"
"They teach martial arts to police," I mumbled.
"Tae Kwon Do, Leo," he answered pathetically. "Judo, maybe even Kung Fu. Ninjutsu's a little different, don'tcha think? How many ninjutsu ryus we got in the US?"
It wasn't really much of an argument. It hadn't really meant to be when I said it. I knew he was right. I'd just never really thought about it before. I said nothing. It was quiet for a long time, then he sighed. "I'm not gonna sit back and watch while he gets away with this, Leonardo," he mumbled. "I'm tired of it. It's time to kick his ass once and for all, and be done with it."
END PART ONE